What do safety, permanency, and well-being mean in child welfare?

In 1997 the Adoptions and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was passed in response to growing dissatisfaction with the ability of state child welfare systems to achieve the goals of safety, permanency, and well-being for the children in the child welfare system. The achievement of safety, permanency, and well-being is the guiding principle of the Adoptions and Safe Families Act.

Safety means that a child is protected from abuse and neglect. The safety of children is the paramount concern that guides all child welfare services and practices. The child welfare agency and courts consider child safety when they make decisions about where a child will live and what services will be provided to the child and family. Safety is also an issue when a child lives with a foster or adoptive parent. Federal law and most states require that the child welfare agency complete a criminal background check on anyone who applies to become a foster or adoptive parent.

Permanency means that a child is entitled to have a stable and permanent home. Foster care and other out-of-home placements are temporary and are not places for children to grow up. To ensure that the system respects a child's developmental needs and sense of time, the law (ASFA) includes provisions that shorten the timeframe for initiating proceedings to terminate parental rights. If, after a prescribed period in out-of-home care, the child welfare agency and court believe that a child will not be able to live safely at home, the child welfare agency must seek another permanent home for the child. A relative or another person who knows the child well may be appointed by the court to become the child's legal guardian. Many foster parents adopt the children in their care who cannot return home. However, 7 of every 10 children in out-of-home care are returned to their parents.

Well-being means that all of a child's needs must be taken care of while the child is in out-of-home care as well as in the home of their families. These needs include physical health, mental health, developmental, and educational needs.

These standards are federally monitored through a Child and Family Services Review process. This review involves community stakeholders as well as state child welfare agencies.